This invention relates to a fenestration construction, usually a window or a door, and more particularly, to a construction wherein the window can be selectively provided with a wood, vinyl, or aluminum appearance.
Fenestration refers to the arrangement, positioning and design of windows and doors in a building. Both windows and doors include a frame assembly for mounting in the building opening and a glazed sash assembly carried in the mounting frame assembly. Usually the sash assembly is movable with respect to the mounting frame assembly between closed and open positions. The movable sash assembly pivots in a casement or awning style window or slides in a double hung window or sliding door.
The mounting frame assembly and the sash assembly each include a frame that has been fabricated from wood members--namely, head, sill and jamb members. A generally transparent pane, usually glass, is fitted into the sash and counterweights, hinges, etc., are provided as necessary. Wooden brick moulding, vinyl or metal nailing fin are provided for securement to the mounting frame assembly to cover the space or interface between the mounting frame assembly and the building opening.
In some cases the customer orders windows with stained, primed or unprimed interior members. The exterior members can be stained, primed, unprimed, vinyl or aluminum clad. Cladding is usually bonded onto preformed base members and is intended to match the building exterior.
In order to manufacture these windows and doors, a large number of separate member parts are required as the head, sill and side members are generally uniquely shaped, of different lengths, and different finishes can be required for different applications.
It is therefore an object of this invention to minimize the number of different parts required to be manufactured and to be kept in inventory for windows and doors.
It is usually desirable to provide fully wooden interior surfaces which have been stained, primed or unprimed. It is also desirable to sometimes provide a clad exterior or a stained, primed or unprimed exterior. For example, a primed pine interior and a clad exterior may be requested. Another combination may be an oak interior and a cedar exterior. In this case, the shapes of the various parts are the same, but the wood or clad materials are different.
It is another object to provide a system or construction in which the desired finishes and combinations thereof can be easily and readily provided.
In devising a door or window construction, it is desirable to maximize the performance of the window or door by, inter alia, minimizing thermal conductivity therethrough.
It is therefore another object of this invention to provide a window construction in which performance is maximized.
In mull installations, window units are usually butted side-by-side against each other. Current window installation requires that a 28-inch building opening is cut for each 271/2-inch window. Thus, a 551/2-inch opening is cut for two 271/2-inch windows, etc. Thus, opening/window unit side spacing for a single unit may be one-half inch, one inch, etc. When assembling multiple units, it is seen that the end clearance or gap with the building will get larger.
It is another object to provide a construction in which the clearance or gap remains essentially the same regardless of the number of units.
These and other objects of this invention will become apparent from the following disclosure and appended claims.